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Published: August 24th 2010
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On 9 July, we had breakfast at 8 o'clock in order to catch the 9 o'clock bus. We left hotel at 8:40. We walked as fast and brisk as possible and arrived at Mompellier Street at 8:52. We needed to run a bit while approaching Royal Well Crescent bus terminal. We managed to catch the 9:00 bus for Cirencester. The bus was running through the Cotswolds villages and hamlets, manor houses, all of which were built with honey coloured Cotswolds stones. It was already quite warm in the morning.
The bus was arriving into Cirencester around 10 o'clock. Mark spotted one of the historic buildings, i.e. remains of St John's Hospital and Chantry of St John the Evangelist, founded in the 12th century by Henry II on the Spitalgate Lane.
We got off at Dollar Street near the church. I asked one of the bus drivers where to get the bus for Bibury. We bought snacks and drink in the Boots on Cricklade Street. We decided to look round the Parish Church of St John Baptist. Like many of churches in the Cotswolds, the Church of St John Baptist was built from the wealth of the wool trade, and
it is one of the biggest Parish churches in Britain. The wool church was built in a typical Gothic style, with vaulted arches and scores of perpendicular shaped windows and stained glasses. The historic church possesses one of the very few pre-Reformation pulpits in the country dating from the 15th century and displays the silver-gilt cup which once belonged to Queen Anne Boleyn. We went to the Abbey Ground. We walked to the Norman Arch, and rambled along the river with the view of the church. Benches were provided at sunny positions in the park. We somehow managed to find the bench in the shady spot. Sachi started having lunch. In the meantime, we walked on the Castle Street and Tetbury Road to see the historic buildings e.g. Black House Inn, claimed to be the oldest pub in Cirencester, First Museum, which was founded and maintained by the Bathurst family in 1856, Old Station, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, operated between 1841 and 1965, and War Memorial, erected by Earl Bathurst and dedicated to those killed in the first world war.
Corinium Museum
We visited Cirencester on 9 July to catch the bus for Bibury. We popped in
the visitor centre, but felt that we didn't have enough time to look round the Corinium Museum.
On arrival at Corinium Museum, we paid for the admission charge, i.e. £4.50 each, and started looking round the exhibition rooms in a chronological order. We noted an interest in the reconstructed 5th century chamber with bones of individual skeletons using the original stone and the example of Prehistoric burials displayed with urn, bowl, bone beads, and flint flakes. I was interested in the articles and exhibits of Celtic Art, e.g. Chariot mount of bronze with enamel inlay, gold torc, or a cast bronze and enamel harness, and the fact that these decorative metal work was executed by embossing techniques accompanied by enamelling, inlay, and coral, and they were designed for the aristocrat family to adorn weapons, attach horse fitting, and enrich items for the religious significance.
Cirencester was the 2nd biggest city in the Roman period. The Corinium Museum possesses an wealth of Roman artefacts, accessories, and remainings of the Roman fort, which have been discovered around Cirencester. There were stunning mosaics displayed on the floor and wall in the Hare Gallery, the centre of the Museum. The Roman Garden
was under the renovation work. The information panel told us that the Roman people were the first people who had formalised the domestic exterior space in Britain. There were models of Barracks of the Roman Fort, Butcher, Kitchen, and Roman Hall with wax works. There were excellent displays of mosaic on the Roman Gallery. There were different kinds of tiles, which the Romans would have used to design the houses, e.g tesserae for the mosaic floor, box flue tile used to carry hot air. There were a number of the Roman surviving Roman artefacts and remainings, e.g. Iron Cauldron hanger, the column capital of the Roman Basilica building, fragments of Roman tiles, Samian ware sherd depicting gladiators, etc. I was impressed with 2nd century wall plaster with subtle decorations of diamonds. We went upstairs and looked at the Jupitar column, which was standing in front of Kingscote Mosaic floor. There were a series of intricate carvings on the columns and we learnt that the art work depicts characters from the story of Bacchus, the God of Wine. The collections of artefacts were classified with agrriculture, transport, christinarity, education, local cults, jewellery, and Crafts and Industry on the Upper Gallery. Mark
found interested in the words of the document, which would be read the same in each direction - was across, backwards, and down. There were a number of intriguing documents e.g. letter of YPH, NI inscribed on the stone, which was part of the altar, Rimsherd with the lettering with “MIL or “Mill”, and part of a wooden writing tablets.
We then walked down and moved to the Saxon exhibition rooms. We were amazed with the comprehensive models of grave of Butler’s field, with the burial of 25-30 year old woman, who was thought to be the very rich Anglo Saxon, Male burials, and Child Burial with his personal possessions. There were a wide range of Anglo Saxon brooches e.g. disc brooches, small-long brooches, and largest part of saucer brooches, and pottery and equipment, which were used for everyday life, surgical equipment, e.g. toilet implements and tweezers, belt made of bone and iron displayed in the glass cases.
There were also extensive collections of the medieval time at the Corinium Museum. There were a number of Cistercian monastries and churches, which were built by the wealth of the wool industry in the medieval time in the Cotwolds. There
have been quite a few valuable pieces of artefacts, decorations and monuments which were dating from 14th and 15th century, before the dissolution of the monastries, discovered, and the collections included: enamelled heraldic round bearing the arms of the Vampage family, Copper-alloy mount bearing the arms of the Bohun family, tombstone of Walter Cheltenham, who was secular priest, Replica brass of Reginald Spycer with four wives by the name of Margaret, Juliana, Margaret, and Joan from Trinity Chapel of Cirencester Parish Church, and the portrait of John Coxwell at the age of 98, who gained a huge wealth from the wool trade.
The Cotswolds and Cirencester suffered hugely from the civil war and it ruined a number of ancient buildings and huge acres of the fertile land between late 16th century and 17th century. There were some collections e.g. bronze spurs, cannon ball displayed in the glasscase.
At the same room, we looked at the glass case displayed with Butcher’s bill dated 22/11/1739, a Fulham pottery hung tankard, and silver watch, which were produced between 18th and 19th century.
Finally, we looked round the exhibitions in related to the findings of Chedworth Roman Villa, which was discovered in the Victorian time, and has been managed by the National Trust.
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Jake Coventry
non-member comment
Nice article.
Nice article. Really interesting fact - "Cirencester was the 2nd biggest city in the Roman period."